James M. Gavin

James Maurice Gavin (22 March 1907-23 February 1990) was a Lieutenant-General of the US Army during World War II and the Korean War as well as the US ambassador to France from 1961 to 1962 under President John F. Kennedy.

Biography
James Maurice Gavin was born in Brooklyn, New York City, New York on 22 March 1907, the son of an Irish-American father and an Irish immigrant mother. He had a troubled childhood, and he ran away from home in 1924 and joined the US Army, claiming that he was an orphan; the recruiter took Gavin to a lawyer who declared himself his guardian, allowing for him to join the military. After learning algebra, geometry, English, and history from a tutor - he had dropped out of school in seventh grade to become a clerk - he enrolled at West Point, graduating in June 1929. He became a beloved instructor at West Point, and he was seen as a "natural instructor" by his superior and as the best teacher that his students ever had. In April 1941, he decided to join the airborne infantry, having been fascinated by the German airborne assault on Fort Eban Emael in May 1940.

Airborne commander
In August 1942, Gavin became the commanding officer of the US 505th Infantry Regiment at Fort Benning, Georgia, and he became a colonel at age 35. In July 1943, he took part in the Operation Husky invasion of Sicily, and he was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross for his defense of Biazza Ridge, earning a promotion to Brigadier-General on 9 December 1943. He became an assistant division commander for the US 82nd Airborne Division, and he assisted in the Operation Overlord airborne invasion of France in June 1944. On 8 August 1944, he became commander of the 82nd Airborne Division, and he was sent to take the Maas River bridge at Grave, Netherlands, four bridges along the Maas-Waal Canal, and the Waal River bridge at Nijmegen during Operation Market Garden. Gavin fractured two disks in the jump, and he was delayed by traffic congestion caused by the British XXX Corps; he then had to wait for the British to supply him with boats to cross the Waal River and assault Nijmegen, a task that took days. Gavin was therefore unable to relieve the British at the Battle of Arnhem, and Gavin blamed the halt of the British advance at Nijmegen on the defeat at Arnhem, as the British armor refused to advance without the embattled British infantry.

Gavin led the 82nd during the Battle of the Bulge as well, defending La Gleize and Stoumont against Joachim Peiper's kampfgruppe and elements of three Waffen-SS panzer divisions. In January 1945, he eliminated the German penetration in a counterattack, and his division helped to secure the Ruhr during the Ruhr Pocket campaign. His division ended the war at Ludwigslust, Mecklenburg, accepting the surrender of 150,000 troops of Kurt von Tippelskirch's German 21st Army. After the war, Gavin became a controversial figure for supporting the desegregation of the US military, integrating the African-American US 555th Parachute Infantry Battalion into the 82nd. He retired from the army in 1958 as a Lieutenant-General, and he worked for the ADL research and consulting firm and also as ambassador to France from 1961 to 1962. He died in Baltimore, Maryland in 1990 at the age of 82.